Research

The prison reform bill being considered by Congress includes several important improvements, but in a letter to Senate leadership the Brennan Center notes that any true reform effort must take steps to reduce the number of people entering prison in the first place.

This final update to the Brennan Center’s 2017 crime data finds that the overall crime rate, violent crime rate, and murder rate in the nation's 30 largest cities declined last year, though homicide rates in some cities remain above 2015 levels.

The new prison reform bill being considered by the House Judiciary Committee, the FIRST STEP Act, includes several important reforms and improves on prior legislation. But any true reform effort must take steps to reduce the number of people entering prison in the first place, which this bill does not do.

The narrow prison reform bill backed by the White House and being considered by Congress is an incomplete starting point for fixing our broken justice system, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law said in this letter to Judiciary Committee leadership in Congress.

Americans want to see a smarter and fairer justice system that learns from mistakes of the past, and veers from the destructive approach taken by the president and his team. This platform of progress is how we get there.